Thursday, May 7, 2015

Why Don't Religious Groups Agree?

Bible

A reader emailed me to ask what
seems like a simple question: why do pronouncements from religious groups sometimes
seem to contradict teachings in holy scriptures?

The answer is a bit complex.

For starters, there is no one
scripture.Every text has an original that
has disappeared.That’s true for the
Bible, Qur’an, Avista or any other sacred book you can name.The originals are gone because they wore
out.They were often on vellum or
parchment, which are simply dried animal skins.The ink gets soaked up; the words fade.So, new copies are made.

Hieroglyphics

All the texts are old.No one had a copier.So, everything was copied by hand, and the previous ones discarded until, at some point, they were deemed too sacred for that.Of course, by then, the originals were long
gone.

When something is copied,
mistakes are inevitable.There are even
mistakes in hieroglyphics painted on Egyptian monuments.Letters are duplicated and so on.Sometimes, even words are dropped.No one
deliberately made a change.It happens.

Moreover, the original texts
were written in archaic languages, such as old Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic
and the like. Today, we don’t know what
some of the terms mean.What is gopher
wood?That’s what Noah supposedly used
to build his ark.What are urrim and
thurrim, which were used to cast lots?No one knows.

There are lots of educated
guesses, but that’s all they are.

In addition, the texts are
translated.Few of us today can read the
old languages, much less translate them.Only scholars read the Bible in the original language.In this country, we read English
translations.However, translations are
only approximations of what was actually written.They are limited because the full context
cannot be known.After all, in modern times, a mention of
the non-religious term like “Irangate” requires knowledge of why the word “gate” was attached, the
circumstances around which the event took place and a myriad of other aspects
known only to the people in our time period.

Talmud

Translations, per force, miss
an awful lot of the meaning imbued in any statement in holy books.

That’s why scholars interpret
the texts.Jewish sages wrote down their
thoughts in what today is known as the Talmud.It contains both written discussions and oral ideas that were later
recorded.In Islam, there are three
different books containing the interpretations.Each is an attempt to explain the written word, but all the interpretations
naturally are affected by the time period when they were recorded and by the
viewpoint of the scholar.

As a result, there are
multiple ways to read any concept propounded in a religious text.

Creation from dust

In addition, the texts are
broad enough to encompass multiple ideas. After all, the Commandment that
demands “remember the Sabbath and keep it
holy” sounds simple, but what does “keep it holy” mean?The answer depends on which group a person
belongs to.

In addition, there are conflicting
stories.There are two stories of Noah’s
flood, for example.In one, it rains 7
days; in the other, 40.In one, animals
board 7 by 7; in the other, 2 x 2.In
Genesis 1, man and woman are created simultaneous from a clump of dirt.In Genesis 2, woman is created from man’s
rib.The list goes on in all sacred
texts.For example, Jesus was a “secret”
messiah in a book ascribed to Mark and yet much heralded in Luke.

As a result, anyone reading sacred
literature can find support for almost any viewpoint.After all, none of the great religious books
were written as a unit, but contain multiple books or chapters composed at
various times in history.Parts of
Genesis date back to around 3200 years ago; other parts were written 700 to 800
years later.In the New Testament, John
is considered the youngest text, dating from 105 to 120 C.E., while Mark is the
oldest and commonly dated to around 70 to 71 C.E.

That explains internal disagreements.

In addition, texts have been
edited and augmented.How much is not
clear, but the earliest Mark ever found disagrees considerably from the one
currently in use.The changes, what
historian Paul Johnson called “pious editing,” were not done to deceive, but to
provide information later authors thought had been overlooked or to match up
with new ideas in a particular religion.

Dead Sea scroll

That’s why the Dead Sea
Scrolls, which contain the oldest versions of books now found in the Old
Testament, include multiple variations of the current texts, ranging from
apparent copying errors to entirely new material.

The end result is that no one
knows what the correct text is.And, even
if we did, we couldn’t really understand it as originally intended.

That opens the door to
multiple, even contradictory, interpretations and to various sects who disagree
even though they draw their inspiration from same sentences in the same book.

Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history.He also speaks at various
religious organizations throughout Florida.You can reach him at www.williamplazarus.net.He is the author of the famed Unauthorized
Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel
Writers Get Their Information; Noel:
The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols;and Dummies Guide to Comparative
Religion.His books are available on Amazon.com,
Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.He can also be followed on Twitter.

You
can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at
http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

About Me

During his career, Bill has been a newspaper reporter, magazine writer/editor, advertising copywriter and writer/editor of NASCAR programs, among other jobs. He has won three international awards for stories and programs while working for International Speedway Corp. and was named 2000 Florida Feature Writer of the Year.
He has published four books to date and his writing has appeared in hundreds of local, regional, state and national publications.